The January 2018 Startup Grind Durban event featured Mike Saunders, not only a Durbanite, but the founder and CEO of DigitLab - a digital marketing agency.

Saunders, described as a serial entrepreneur and a celebrated business author, was previously voted as one of the Top 20 people to follow on Twitter in South Africa. He says, “It is amazing what you can do when someone believes in you.”

He explained that he has always been driven by the desire to give back to society and enjoys focusing his attention on where he can have purpose. He strives to put something into the system and add value rather
than operating from a position of gain, as he believes chasing money is not sufficient.

Of his position as CEO, Saunders says that he is a big picture strategist, who has surrounded himself with a
creative team that can effectively implement marketing campaigns via a range of services including digital technology.

Consequently, DigitLab, is not only an award-winning digital marketing agency, but has built a culture where people feel valued and the strong work / family ethos has become a competitive advantage.

This internal culture of putting people first is underpinned by helping people to win in the business arena. Clients have included: Beiersdorf, The City Lodge Hotel Group, Huawei, KPMG, Growthpoint, The Unlimited, Bidvest and Blue Security.

Apart from is marketing services, the DigitLab Academy provides training in digital skill sets to marketers and executives. Another platform is Digital Swarm, which are events that allow industry leaders to share their ideas and knowledge. Working in the social marketing sphere, the big question that people frequently ask is, “If you have a business, how can you put yourself out there?” says Saunders.

He says that research is key to the solution. Any social media strategy should have meaningful high-quality content and a consistent presence, rather than tons of quantity. “We need to create something attractive enough with which people will want to engage.”

He added that building on success is imperative, and that one can never stop building. Within this strategy, an element of bravery is required to stand out amongst other brands. An effective strategy should focus
on finding a market niche and aim for the business to be one of the top five brands in that space.

He commented that we learn by pushing barriers and that failure is often the stepping stone that gets us to the success part. Therefore, there is no surprise that the first chapter of his book, ‘The Five Year Mark’ looks at risk. The book is Saunders’ collection of personal stories and lessons, which aims to encourage entrepreneurs on their journeys. The Five Year Mark’s content includes vision, leadership, operations, personal development, culture and more. Saunders believes that entrepreneurs are the solution to many of the problems that South Africa faces and that they need support to get things done.

However, he believes that Durban is entrepreneur friendly and that many successful entrepreneurs are every quiet and “not putting it out there”. “We want to hear their stories,” he added.

Saunders stressed that we need to shift our view of life, as while wealth and success is often an end goal, having purpose is what gives our lives significance and through which we can retire happily. 

www.startupgrind.co.za

Mohamed Chohan is the Managing Director at Startup Grind Durban and the Founder of Actinium Digital Consultancy as well as the Co-Founder of Carbon Compliance.

Startup Grind is a global startup community designed to educate, inspire, and connect entrepreneurs. Each monthly event, hosted in over 200 cities and 100 countries, features a successful local founder, innovator, educator, or investor who shares their story and the lessons they learned on the road to building a great company.